Button pushing on: Jenson has the Brawn to muscle past rivals

The first image of the day, courtesy of the on-board camera: Jenson Button, relaxedgrip in gloved hand, caressing his Brawn GP car around Albert Park in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix. A nudge here, a dink there.

Vignette No 2: Lewis Hamilton, way down the times in practice, looking despondent as he faced the press.

The third subject, and let’s deal with this tedious intrusion on the eve of the first round of a 17-race season in just six short paragraphs: a typically arcane Formula One rowover the aerodynamic advantage accrued by three teams - Brawn, Williams and Toyota.

Jenson Button was the pictute of calm on Friday - many pundits now think this could be a big year for the Briton

They occupied six of the top seven times in the second practice session because they are running double diffusers of dubious legality after cleverly exploiting a grey area in the new regulations.

Their ingenuity is now subject to a court process conducted by the ruling body, the FIA, which will adjudicate on the matter next month after the second round in Malaysia. Points are at stake.

Share this article

Speaking for many a sane paddock insider, Renault boss Flavio Briatore said somewhat cryptically: ‘Charlie Whiting (the race director) is one policeman in a crowd of bandits.'

You assume his comment was aimed at the sport’s lax moral code.

He added: ‘The FIA must sort this out now. There have been so many rule changes over the years that fans are confused. It makes a mockery of the championship.

'Several teams are not operating within the spirit of the rules. It’s just not acceptable.’

Enough of that. There is a championship battle starting on Sunday and the politicalinfighting is nothing compared to the dynamic at work between Hamilton, the world No 1 who is in danger of becoming British No 2 literally overnight, and Button.

Button was all jaunty optimism at the close of practice. Fifth in the charts, but far faster when the masking effects of fuel loads are stripped bare, he - and team-mateRubens Barrichello - are favourites to triumph, subject to the qualifying positionsthey secure early on Saturday morning.

Even with Ferrari nearly as quick as is customary, you cannot look beyond the ‘double diffuser three’.

Concerned: Lewis Hamilton will have to work extremely hard in Melbourne

Yet despite his own unexpected elevation into orbit just weeks after the Honda team were rescued by Ross Brawn, the technical wizard behind Michael Schumacher’srampage to seven world titles at two different teams, Button was man enough to hail the racer who replaced him as heir to Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.

‘Lewis is world champion,’ said Button, starting his ninth season in F1. ‘He has achieved a goal most people never achieve. Fair play. This year is going to be interesting for McLaren because they are not as competitive as they have beenthe last couple of years.

‘Lewis will do the best job he can. It is not an easy position being in the pack. The problem is that when you are in that pack and try to push a bit harder you are going tohave more accidents. You do crash more often. That might happen with Lewis this year.

'But people’s view of him should not change because he has achieved somethinggreat. Hopefully, this year we will be racing against each other at the front. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I have been ready to deliver for many years.’

There was talk of McLaren introducing their own version of the double diffuser over the weekend.

It’s possible, but the smart money says that McLaren are still some weeks away fromdeploying their, as yet embryonic, new device. Think more in terms of Spain on May 10.

Hamilton, though, for all his gilded entry into F1, is a fighter by nature, and his daring from midfield promises to be one of the highlights of the early season.

‘I give everything,’ he said after finishing 16th and 18th in practice.

‘I have been in difficult circumstances so often in other categories. I have had to work hard, from the back of the grid. I just keep on pushing. Always. That’s how I am, and that’s how I’ll carry on.